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DIY Ikea Table Hack

So, I used to have this table from Ikea that I thought was awesome. You put pictures under the glass, and since I’m obsessed with pictures, it was perfect…for about a week. Then I remembered how much I hated glass tables because they showed every little smudge and fingerprint, and also, crumbs and dust got under the glass and all over the pictures…driving me insaneeee.

Still, it took me over 2 years to actually do something about it. I looked around on Pinterest to get ideas, and a few blogs and magazines until I came up with something perfect for me. I got the measurements and dimensions of the glass, and purchased a piece of super thin birch wood from Home Depot. I had my dad cut it down and sand it for me, and I looked through the Silhouette Cameo store for a pretty design. After looking through pages and pages and pages of designs, I found one my husband and I liked, and cut 6 out on 12×12 card stock papers. I taped up the table so I’d have a guide as to where to place the stencils.

Using some repositional glue spray (important that it’s not permanent!), I sprayed the backs of the stencils and placed them within the tape.

Once they were all on, I painted over them using a roller and some white primer.

I’d carefully peel each stencil off as soon as I finished with the paint. Once they were all done, I let them dry for about 24 hours.

Then, and this was my favorite part, I stained over the whole thing with Rustoleum’s Dark Walnut wood stain. I only needed to do one coat. After about 15 minutes, I wiped any excess away with a few paper towels. This needed to dry another 24 hours, though they say you can paint the polyurethane sooner, I wanted to wait until I glued the wood on the table.

After it dried, I put (a lottt) of wood glue (I used Aleene’s) all over the table top and pressed the stained wood on top.

I placed a lot of heavy things on top of the wood overnight so make sure it dried flat.

In the morning, and throughout the next 6 hours, I applied 3 coats of polyurethane (also Rustoleum’s), which had to dry for 2 days.

I LOVE my new table, as does everyone else who sees it! I thought for sure I was going to have to get rid of it, but thanks to my craftiness, I got another beautiful life out of it! A little before and after shot:

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Thanks!! Yeah, I actually got the idea to do the stain over the paint from the paisley table over at Domestic Imperfection. I didn’t even think of sending it to ikea hackers–have to get a better picture! I had lost my camera when I was doing this so I had to use my iPad –hence the awful pics! lol